As we flip the calendar to a new year, we have different kinds of opportunity before us – one that challenges us to look, at how we will progress in 2018.

We are very pleased to take this opportunity to wish our readership, members of the Editorial Team, Managing Committee, and all members of TNOA and Ophthalmic fraternity a Very Happy New Year.

On behalf of the Editorial Team, we would like to express our gratitude to our contributing readership and our Editorial team and reviewers for their valuable contributions to the success of TNOA Journal of Ophthalmic Science and Research (TJOSR).

This is the time of year when we say goodbye to the old and welcome the new; to review 2017 and judge whether we are better or worse off than we were 12 months ago.

Our quest for bringing to you the best work has led to more rigorous reviewing process, and with the help of reviewers, we are selecting only the most excellent manuscripts for publication. Reviewers are an asset and are a part of the TJOSR family. You have supported the journal in its success to date. We acknowledge and appreciate this contribution. We look forward to your service of excellence and are committed to working closely with you.

As always, the team that all year delivers TJOSR did an excellent job. This team includes the authors, reviewers, section editors, the core Editorial team, and without these real people our journal would not be a reality.

Therefore, I begin this editorial with thanks for all the work these people did to make the 55th volume a success.

Our readers will note from this and recent issues of TJOSR that the editorial handling process and consequently, the turnaround of submissions have been speeded up over the past 9 months, such that papers are now taking as little as 4 months from receipt to appearance, but on an average 6 months.

The major delaying factors were the new manuscript management system and the challenges associated with it for the authors and Editorial team. Another factor is the duration of revision by some authors, and we, therefore, urge our contributors to revise their accepted manuscripts as quickly as possible. In most cases, we have achieved our target of 6 weeks and 4 weeks, respectively, for full-length papers and case reports/short communications from submission to notification of a decision.

Why do I call the last year's volume success?

TJOSR has 88 registered Authors, who submitted over 95 articles of which 66 articles were published. The accessibility of journal has increased following Manuscript Management System (MMS) integration and online edition. The second issue of volume 55 has been accessed 4557 times. The third issue 3539 times and last issue since online publication have been accessed 1163 times. The downloads of articles have increased, and citations and impact factor are also increasing.

We published four issues that accommodated 66 articles/scientific papers. We are also pleased to say that the number of submissions during 2017 has increased by at least 20% and we are fully confident that this trend will continue.

Simultaneously, our quest for bringing to you the best work has led to more rigorous reviewing process, and with the help of reviewers, we are selecting only the most excellent manuscripts for publication. Reviewers and authors are an asset and are a part of the TJOSR family. You have supported the journal in its success to date. We acknowledge and appreciate this contribution. We look forward to your service of excellence and are committed to working closely with you. The journal will depend on your expert reviewer reports, and we trust your advice.

The first issue of the 56th volume you have in hand (or on the screen) is special for two reasons.

First reason: this is the first issue of the new volume, which is fully compliant with all statutory requirements and registered in more than 10 databases.

Second, beginning from 2018, all manuscripts submitted for possible publication will be published as “ahead of print” after they are peer-reviewed and provisionally accepted by the editorial team. This feature enables to share the information quickly, way ahead of the publication of the “polished” and print version in the specific issue of the journal.

It is indeed encouraging to see the number of authors submitting their research papers and also see the citations, number of views, downloads, and printouts, all on TJOSR manuscript management system.

In this issue, we start with the original article “Clinical profile and visual outcomes of traumatic optic neuropathy” by Priya Sivakumar et al. which highlights the safety and efficacy of Intravenous methyl prednisolone in managing traumatic optic neuropathy patients. The original article “Correlation between body mass index and intraocular pressure: A pilot study” by Sophia Louisraj et al. have brought out obesity as a possible risk factor for increasing intraocular pressure in both men and women.

The review article on “Aesthetics in ophthalmology: Noninvasive options of facial rejuvenation” by Atanu Barh et al. presents a comprehensive review of the currently available nonsurgical methods to revert facial aging.

“Clear corneal grafts with subcritical endothelial cell count after 1 year of penetrating keratoplasty.” is a case series by Aruna Kumari et al. which reports of cases of clear corneal graft in those having a low endothelial cell count.

There is a collection of interesting case reports in this issue, focusing on neuroophthalmology, ocular trauma, glaucoma, retina, and oculoplasty.

The Bicentennial of The Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Government Ophthalmic Hospital, Egmore, Chennai - 600 008, being celebrated in 2018–2019, it is but appropriate to dedicate “Historical/Remembering the past” section for this. As in every issue, the interesting Photoquiz and Journal scan are bound to catch your eye.

As Editorial team, our goal for 2018 is to build on the good foundation laid in 2017, improve the reputation of the journal and improve its indexing databases, citation and impact factor. In this regard, we welcome articles/papers that cover wide-ranging topics in Ophthalmology – both basic and clinical sciences.

We are also committed to making speedy editorial decisions. Quality reviewer reports, first editorial decision within 6–8 weeks' time, and second (and final) editorial decisions within 4 weeks' of receiving revised papers are all part of our vision for taking the journal forward.

TJOSR prides itself on being a truly international (with some of its content being from outside India) and premier ophthalmology journal in the field. The Editorial team and all those involved are determined to maintain and enhance the status of the journal and its leading position, but we believe that this can only be achieved with the continued cooperation of our contributing readership.

We promise to improve and promote our role in this partnership and therefore look forward to your valued contributions to the journal in 2018.